Two of the most representative elements of anime and manga is undoubtedly the “Ecchi” and the “Fan Service” because any otaku who tells us that he has never seen an anime or read any manga of this genre or that uses this resource in its plot would be lying, Not so long ago great names in the industry have been raised and consecrated by the hand of these, such is the case of “To Love-Ru”, “High School DxD” or “Strike The Blood” but although today the genre is no longer at its best moment, perhaps we are on the verge of not seeing it anymore in the productions that reach this side of the world.
The popularity of “ecchi” is in danger in the West
It turns out that in the famous Japanese forum “Yaraon!“has become very popular a post where it is said that in the west the “ecchi” has a decline in popularity in the media, both television and digital, either in movies or series, In this discussion it is shared that the “Center for Scholars and Storytellers at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)” has conducted a study entitled “teens and screens” where they have addressed and asked topics of interest on television content to 1500 teenagers between 10 to 24 years where within this group stands out a sector comprising an age of 14 to 23 years to talk about issues of sex and romance.
This study has brought to light some very interesting data, as it turns out that 51.5% of respondents want more stories that address issues of “friendship” and “platonic relationships” as well as less content involving sex or more carnal relationships (ecchi), we also find that 44. 3% of the boys think the resource of romance between the protagonists is overused, 39% would like to see more “asexual” and “aromantic” characters in the contents while 47.5% say that sex is an incense resource in the plots and storylines of series and movies.
Japan reacts on the future of “ecchi” in the West
These are quite revealing and interesting data, because let’s remember that while the “ecchi” genre is not at its best moment due to a great abuse of it in many anime, this could be an even more difficult scenario in the near future, where these productions are no longer at all attractive to the western otaku audience of this age range and could even play against those productions that have planned a “simulcast” in this region that can be reflected in lost or low audience numbers.
Faced with this revealing data, forum users were quick to comment in the comments section: “Sex and ecchi is necessary if you watch t3tas in the series. It’s not if you don’t watch anything, period“, “Don’t call yourself an actress without showing your nipples”, “Westerners seem to have developed an aversion to sexuality”. While others made some very curious and ironic remarks about such scenes in horror movies: “Sex is a must in horror movies”, “Why is there a high rate of ecchi scenes in horror movies?“.
Tell us in the comments section what you think about the data revealed by this new study conducted by UCLA, also if you are in the age that the study refers we would like to know if you agree with some of the answers of those delighted, as well as your opinion on whether you have watched some ecchi anime ultramate and if each season you look forward to a new one or on the contrary if you think that definitely this genre and resource should finally say goodbye, we will be very interested to know your opinion.
